It's time to offer my services as a writer/editor. Everywhere I've worked I've performed this service, once was even hired as a technical editor. I've written & edited lots of brochures of various types, a speakers' bureau publication (biographical information & course descriptions), technical courses, & lots of business correspondence, even promotional emails. I've done some creative writing on my own but what I've done most is a whole lot of professional writing - marketing materials & purely informational communications.
You tell me what you want - describe what you want written - & I can do it. I'm concise & choose words carefully. I'm also a super editor - spelling, grammar, punctuation. I know my stuff, & have plenty of references if I have a question. You'd laugh if you saw my library of huge dictionaries, thesauruses, books on grammar & usage, etc. I've been told often enough that I have too many books but words are my "thing," especially the written word.
Thing is - what you present in writing from a business aspect, gives the biggest impression about you unless you're there in person. And we just can't all be in front of everyone all the time. Sometimes the written word has to speak for us - brochures, business letters, blogs, emails, etc. You miss your mistakes & I don't. I've never read anything a non-professional writer put out that didn't need editing! And I've seen plenty of publications that could have used some proofreading. You miss the mistakes but your readers don't. A few mistakes are acceptable but most of what I see really reflects poorly on the writer, & it's just not what you want to project when you're putting yourself out there in any form.
So the tip for bloggers is this - if you're blogging about a business, please read your blog from beginning to end before publishing. After you read the entire thing & correct errors, run the spell check. Only then do you hit "publish post." Every time even I read my blog through before posting, I find a few errors. I think faster than I type & sometimes I have more than one word flowing as I type so I end up leaving out a word, adding a word, using a wrong word. Spell check isn't going to catch any of that. Your blog should appear as professional as you are from a standpoint of correctness. Do what you want with content, appearance, ads. But make sure your written word always shows you to be educated & well-spoken. You always want to show that you're knowledgeable in your subject & mistakes distract from that impression.
Angel Baby Ornament sample 1
Monday, June 6, 2011
Thursday, June 2, 2011
WATCH THIS SPACE NEXT WEEK
No time today for the 2 blogs I most want to do, probably not tomorrow either. I'm off to a grand party - my Shaklee open house at my friend's house! I'm so excited!!! I so truly love the people I know will be there! I'm all dressed in my finest, a new dress that's an old friend. A little tight, but it works. I haven't been able to fit into it in several years, so this is real progress & I'm thrilled. I'm becoming a slip of my former self!!! This has been a favorite since I bought it in the late 1990s!
WATCH THIS SPACE NEXT WEEK for what I think is so VERY exciting news! After I post, you'll have to tell me. But I can tell you this - it's entirely life-changing, if you let it be!
Love & peace, joy & abundance, & total wellbeing to all of you!
Jenny Lea
WATCH THIS SPACE NEXT WEEK for what I think is so VERY exciting news! After I post, you'll have to tell me. But I can tell you this - it's entirely life-changing, if you let it be!
Love & peace, joy & abundance, & total wellbeing to all of you!
Jenny Lea
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Gratitude
There are only 2 things on my mind today & they're both related. So I hope you aren't tired of hearing about the glory of God! I vowed to do this 5 days a week & I simply can't get beyond these thoughts today. I'll try to post again about a CWF topic tomorrow. Try, I said. I'm leaving myself an opening here :)
Ok, here are the topics: God answers prayers & gives us tons of small miracles if we're open to them, recognize them, are grateful. And tons of small miracles simply add up. The thing I'm most grateful for at the moment is my freedom, the life I have now, & my journey.
I've come so far! Today I got to change my drivers license & open a bank account in a new bank in my new name. It made me sing & dance with joy! Then I got home, very hot, & after bringing in all the groceries, went into my office & found my ex-husband's criminal file all over the floor. In the past my first thought would have been that someone broke in & ransacked the file. I would have been afraid, looking all over for whether anything else had been touched, was missing. Instead, I reasoned it out quickly & knew that one of the cats had been on my desk & knocked it off.
I am very grateful for my ex for creating my current circumstances. It hit me last night so hard it was almost like a bolt of lightning. I was practicing gratitude & just like Mary Hall says, once you start & get into it, it just grows & grows - you find more & more to be grateful about. I was into the stars, the trees, the cool night air, the quiet... when I realized my ex was responsible for bringing me to this place where I live, & the catastrophy that brought me to the spiritual place within me where I now live. And of course, that's when the gratitude about him hit. Don't get me wrong - I'm not grateful that he committed crimes against me & my mother. I'm not grateful TO him, I'm grateful TO GOD for what happened because of where it brought me.
If you don't know who Mary Hall is & you need the flow of abundance, or healing in your life, please contact me. I'm forever grateful to a friend who turned me on to a site that turned me on to her.
Today's small miracle is that it didn't cost me a thing after all to have an addendum printed for my drivers license with my new name. I still have the old license but I have a card that goes with it now. So it was free, & more valuable this way in case I still need to prove the old name as I'm switching things over, selling a 1997 Lincoln Town Car, etc.
It's not quite 5 p.m. yet & there may already be another miracle in the works for today. For one thing, when I opened the bank account the secretary suggested I apply for work at that bank - lots of branches in Pittsburgh & lots of openings, she said! Just last night I was telling God that if His answer for me is to go get a regular job I'm totally willing. But I asked that He make it easy to know where/how to look. Earlier this year it was not a good experience - confusing, frustrating, futile, time consuming. So I believe He answered my prayer today. When I sign off I'm going to the website she gave me.
Lately my life has become the most exciting adventure, with new lessons, growth, & insights every day - multiple ones! Now I'm awakening wondering what excitement is in store for me, sure there's more. I'm so looking forward to every single day of my life now :) And that's what I wish for each of you!
With great love,
Jenny Lea
Ok, here are the topics: God answers prayers & gives us tons of small miracles if we're open to them, recognize them, are grateful. And tons of small miracles simply add up. The thing I'm most grateful for at the moment is my freedom, the life I have now, & my journey.
I've come so far! Today I got to change my drivers license & open a bank account in a new bank in my new name. It made me sing & dance with joy! Then I got home, very hot, & after bringing in all the groceries, went into my office & found my ex-husband's criminal file all over the floor. In the past my first thought would have been that someone broke in & ransacked the file. I would have been afraid, looking all over for whether anything else had been touched, was missing. Instead, I reasoned it out quickly & knew that one of the cats had been on my desk & knocked it off.
I am very grateful for my ex for creating my current circumstances. It hit me last night so hard it was almost like a bolt of lightning. I was practicing gratitude & just like Mary Hall says, once you start & get into it, it just grows & grows - you find more & more to be grateful about. I was into the stars, the trees, the cool night air, the quiet... when I realized my ex was responsible for bringing me to this place where I live, & the catastrophy that brought me to the spiritual place within me where I now live. And of course, that's when the gratitude about him hit. Don't get me wrong - I'm not grateful that he committed crimes against me & my mother. I'm not grateful TO him, I'm grateful TO GOD for what happened because of where it brought me.
If you don't know who Mary Hall is & you need the flow of abundance, or healing in your life, please contact me. I'm forever grateful to a friend who turned me on to a site that turned me on to her.
Today's small miracle is that it didn't cost me a thing after all to have an addendum printed for my drivers license with my new name. I still have the old license but I have a card that goes with it now. So it was free, & more valuable this way in case I still need to prove the old name as I'm switching things over, selling a 1997 Lincoln Town Car, etc.
It's not quite 5 p.m. yet & there may already be another miracle in the works for today. For one thing, when I opened the bank account the secretary suggested I apply for work at that bank - lots of branches in Pittsburgh & lots of openings, she said! Just last night I was telling God that if His answer for me is to go get a regular job I'm totally willing. But I asked that He make it easy to know where/how to look. Earlier this year it was not a good experience - confusing, frustrating, futile, time consuming. So I believe He answered my prayer today. When I sign off I'm going to the website she gave me.
Lately my life has become the most exciting adventure, with new lessons, growth, & insights every day - multiple ones! Now I'm awakening wondering what excitement is in store for me, sure there's more. I'm so looking forward to every single day of my life now :) And that's what I wish for each of you!
With great love,
Jenny Lea
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Will Formulate Products to Your Needs
Yesterday I was asked if I could make a skin care product for someone using certain oils. She knows what she's liked & not liked in other products. She has certain oils in mind & wondered if I could tell her if they'd work together. She also wanted to know the cost.
And my inner response was - YES!!! This is part of what I want to happen with this company. I want people to know that I CAN & will custom blend for their needs, tastes, allergies, etc. And yes, I make it affordable.
I probably make the mistake most new business people make & under price my products. I add very little to my cost when pricing. If you can afford a product from the store then you can afford mine.
Back to custom blending. Yes, I can tell whether a certain combination of oils is feasible. That's what I do when I create my own blends. I work with lots of references & I know essential oils. I've worked with various oils for 15 years. When I blend for the public, I use the safest oils possible for most people. I stay away from some of the popular ingredients that carry warnings, even though many well-known products use them. When I blend for an individual, I'm able to do just what I've done for myself for 15 years - make a product suited to her (or his) tastes, needs, desires.
I've been making my own bath salts for skin problems for 15 years. I make my own body powder with anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, & anti-microbial properties because I'm diabetic. When a guy I know had eczema on his otherwise very handsome face, I made my first lotion bar for him. It worked, too! I actually like custom blending best of all. Then I have more leeway in ingredients. For example, I don't use rosemary in my public blends because it's a strong stimulant with warnings. You'll see it in a lot of products, but I've chosen other oils to do what rosemary does. Personally, I love rosemary & it's one of the strongest cleansing oils. So when I make my own bath salts & body powder, I include rosemary. I have a deep attachment to rosemary & lavender, so leaving the one out has been like snubbing an old friend.
So please do contact me if you have a special need. One way is to add a comment to this post. I've also got email attached to this blog. Who knows - maybe I'll get to include rosemary in your blend! We'll both be happy you talked with me!
And my inner response was - YES!!! This is part of what I want to happen with this company. I want people to know that I CAN & will custom blend for their needs, tastes, allergies, etc. And yes, I make it affordable.
I probably make the mistake most new business people make & under price my products. I add very little to my cost when pricing. If you can afford a product from the store then you can afford mine.
Back to custom blending. Yes, I can tell whether a certain combination of oils is feasible. That's what I do when I create my own blends. I work with lots of references & I know essential oils. I've worked with various oils for 15 years. When I blend for the public, I use the safest oils possible for most people. I stay away from some of the popular ingredients that carry warnings, even though many well-known products use them. When I blend for an individual, I'm able to do just what I've done for myself for 15 years - make a product suited to her (or his) tastes, needs, desires.
I've been making my own bath salts for skin problems for 15 years. I make my own body powder with anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, & anti-microbial properties because I'm diabetic. When a guy I know had eczema on his otherwise very handsome face, I made my first lotion bar for him. It worked, too! I actually like custom blending best of all. Then I have more leeway in ingredients. For example, I don't use rosemary in my public blends because it's a strong stimulant with warnings. You'll see it in a lot of products, but I've chosen other oils to do what rosemary does. Personally, I love rosemary & it's one of the strongest cleansing oils. So when I make my own bath salts & body powder, I include rosemary. I have a deep attachment to rosemary & lavender, so leaving the one out has been like snubbing an old friend.
So please do contact me if you have a special need. One way is to add a comment to this post. I've also got email attached to this blog. Who knows - maybe I'll get to include rosemary in your blend! We'll both be happy you talked with me!
Monday, May 30, 2011
God is good!
First I want to recommend a site - http://www.healingwiththemasters.com/. I recommend you sign up to listen to the segments - & it's free. I especially recommend that you listen to the message by Mary Hall & then click through to listen to her 11:11 call on 5/25, replayed on the site. If it's not on the above site, click through until you get to her site. Listening was incredible for me today!
Besides that, today I want to tell you that God is good! God works in mysterious but perfect ways. And He has a great sense of humor, sense of timing, rightness of how He does things, completeness about His efforts.
As you all know, my financial circumstances are not where I want them to be at this point. I'm carefully wording what I say because I believe you attract what you speak. I really try to trust God & not worry, or spend time trying to figure out how it can all work out. My situation seems impossible but I refuse to accept that it is because with God all things are possible. And I've come so far in such a short time. And He keeps providing what I need when I need it, somehow. Sometimes He uses friends & family, sometimes I "earn" it through helping people or cats through Reiki.
This time I was mentally fretting Friday night about mailing costs. I needed to mail product to the drawing winner (finally got her address), some documents that belonged to my newly ex-husband, & some of my products & some other things as gifts to my children & sister. All of these things are acts of giving & I knew it was the right thing to do but I really didn't want to spend my dwindling resources on postage. But I was obedient & prepared all the packages Friday, went to mail them on Saturday.
The final postage cost was around $25, but I walked out of the post office in awe. Here's what happened. I took stamps that I'd found when cleaning out some of my mother's things. I'll confess I didn't have an attitude of gratitude toward finding bunches of old stamps that would need more stamps bought to use at the current rate. Mostly there were 32s, 33s, 34s, 37s. Old stamps. But they paid all that postage! I used 3 stamps at 44 cents that I need to use first because they're marked (now I buy those "forever" stamps), & pulled 3 of my found pennies (picked up in parking lots) from my wallet. I walked out without spending any of my cash & without all those old stamps! It was painless!
I'm not sure how this sounds to you, but to me it was a great lesson & miracle. I did the right thing & God provided - again - just what I needed when I needed it. He's so creative in how He does these things! Much more powerful & awesome than Oz!
Silly me - every time I worry it's without cause. He just keeps taking care of me. Yesterday I worried about the heat index today. Normally I don't do well in heat - I learned the hard way in my late 20s when I was sick for 2 days from heat exhaustion. And I suffered terribly the 2 summers I've lived here, could barely function during the day. I don't have any air conditioning in this house. There are only 3 windows in the upstairs & they're the wrong kind, won't hold an air conditioner unit. Instead, I have lots of sliding glass doors, & a fan for each one, bought when we moved here. Today it's around 90 degrees & I'm not feeling it! I'm fine! I'm just so in awe of how He takes care of me!
Besides that, today I want to tell you that God is good! God works in mysterious but perfect ways. And He has a great sense of humor, sense of timing, rightness of how He does things, completeness about His efforts.
As you all know, my financial circumstances are not where I want them to be at this point. I'm carefully wording what I say because I believe you attract what you speak. I really try to trust God & not worry, or spend time trying to figure out how it can all work out. My situation seems impossible but I refuse to accept that it is because with God all things are possible. And I've come so far in such a short time. And He keeps providing what I need when I need it, somehow. Sometimes He uses friends & family, sometimes I "earn" it through helping people or cats through Reiki.
This time I was mentally fretting Friday night about mailing costs. I needed to mail product to the drawing winner (finally got her address), some documents that belonged to my newly ex-husband, & some of my products & some other things as gifts to my children & sister. All of these things are acts of giving & I knew it was the right thing to do but I really didn't want to spend my dwindling resources on postage. But I was obedient & prepared all the packages Friday, went to mail them on Saturday.
The final postage cost was around $25, but I walked out of the post office in awe. Here's what happened. I took stamps that I'd found when cleaning out some of my mother's things. I'll confess I didn't have an attitude of gratitude toward finding bunches of old stamps that would need more stamps bought to use at the current rate. Mostly there were 32s, 33s, 34s, 37s. Old stamps. But they paid all that postage! I used 3 stamps at 44 cents that I need to use first because they're marked (now I buy those "forever" stamps), & pulled 3 of my found pennies (picked up in parking lots) from my wallet. I walked out without spending any of my cash & without all those old stamps! It was painless!
I'm not sure how this sounds to you, but to me it was a great lesson & miracle. I did the right thing & God provided - again - just what I needed when I needed it. He's so creative in how He does these things! Much more powerful & awesome than Oz!
Silly me - every time I worry it's without cause. He just keeps taking care of me. Yesterday I worried about the heat index today. Normally I don't do well in heat - I learned the hard way in my late 20s when I was sick for 2 days from heat exhaustion. And I suffered terribly the 2 summers I've lived here, could barely function during the day. I don't have any air conditioning in this house. There are only 3 windows in the upstairs & they're the wrong kind, won't hold an air conditioner unit. Instead, I have lots of sliding glass doors, & a fan for each one, bought when we moved here. Today it's around 90 degrees & I'm not feeling it! I'm fine! I'm just so in awe of how He takes care of me!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Short Blog
This is going to be short & quick. How can I follow up after yesterday's post anyway?
I'm off to go change my name on driver's license, car title, new bank account with new bank, etc. I am now officially as you see it, Jenny Lea Schwartz, so I've got to go change records to reflect that.
Meanwhile, I'm watching one of my baby groundhogs wander through my back yard, grazing. I have animal magnetism of the truest sort. I attract groundhogs & cats. Groundhogs appear wherever I live & begin to breed & burrow. When I moved here 2 years ago there was just one groundhog I saw at the end of the season, at the back of the property. Now there are at least 8 around me, including 4 new babies!
It's the funniest thing, first happened in Hagerstown when I lived on that farm. In 2000 there was just one old groundhog who'd show up when the apple trees started dropping their apples. By 2008 he'd died & his daughter had 4 babies, & she was visible all season. She dug a burrow up against the front of the house & another at the back of the house. Each burrow was exactly where I spent the majority of my time - at the front below my couch & behind the bed, in back it was right below the kitchen sink with the spy hole at my chair in the dining room. (That's where I took all my meals, studied - we didn't have a kitchen table.)
I guess I've always been a person of power & magnetism. When I was a teen I couldn't get a watch that would work on me. Even Timex watches, considered to be good watches back then, would race once I started wearing them! I was in my early 20s & had to buy an expensive watch before I could get one that worked. It was one of the premium brands. I've also mentioned that I can't wear most perfumes that smell good on others. Something about my body chemistry just doesn't mix well with most commercially produced scents.
So there you go. Just some of my oddities. Everything you never wanted to know. Maybe now you begin to see why, the day before he married my daughter, my son-in-law announced in a toast to everyone that I'm eccentric. That was news to me! I'm not sure when I went from "interesting," to "quirky," to "bohemian," & finally, to "eccentric." But I've definitely always marched to a different beat! And now to my new name :)
I'm off to go change my name on driver's license, car title, new bank account with new bank, etc. I am now officially as you see it, Jenny Lea Schwartz, so I've got to go change records to reflect that.
Meanwhile, I'm watching one of my baby groundhogs wander through my back yard, grazing. I have animal magnetism of the truest sort. I attract groundhogs & cats. Groundhogs appear wherever I live & begin to breed & burrow. When I moved here 2 years ago there was just one groundhog I saw at the end of the season, at the back of the property. Now there are at least 8 around me, including 4 new babies!
It's the funniest thing, first happened in Hagerstown when I lived on that farm. In 2000 there was just one old groundhog who'd show up when the apple trees started dropping their apples. By 2008 he'd died & his daughter had 4 babies, & she was visible all season. She dug a burrow up against the front of the house & another at the back of the house. Each burrow was exactly where I spent the majority of my time - at the front below my couch & behind the bed, in back it was right below the kitchen sink with the spy hole at my chair in the dining room. (That's where I took all my meals, studied - we didn't have a kitchen table.)
I guess I've always been a person of power & magnetism. When I was a teen I couldn't get a watch that would work on me. Even Timex watches, considered to be good watches back then, would race once I started wearing them! I was in my early 20s & had to buy an expensive watch before I could get one that worked. It was one of the premium brands. I've also mentioned that I can't wear most perfumes that smell good on others. Something about my body chemistry just doesn't mix well with most commercially produced scents.
So there you go. Just some of my oddities. Everything you never wanted to know. Maybe now you begin to see why, the day before he married my daughter, my son-in-law announced in a toast to everyone that I'm eccentric. That was news to me! I'm not sure when I went from "interesting," to "quirky," to "bohemian," & finally, to "eccentric." But I've definitely always marched to a different beat! And now to my new name :)
Thursday, May 26, 2011
My Personal Oprah Winfrey - Best Life Lesson Ever!!!
Yesterday I watched the most meaningful, beautiful, moving show I've ever seen on TV - the final Oprah Winfrey show. Funny how things work. In my planner, I'd written a note to myself to share a certain lesson yesterday that's connected to her! I was going to postpone it until next week, but Oprah's show moved me to share today.
The Oprah in my life had the name of Fran Santi. She was my Tupperware distributor the one time I was entirely successful at the business, the only MLM type business I've done well with. This was the middle 80s, around the time Oprah started her 25 year show. (I tried selling Tupperware several times in later years with less success due to other things going on in my own life at the time.)
First, a little about Fran. She could have been Oprah's twin soul! Their tastes, actions, leading, even their mannerisms were so similar! Fran loved to shop, do things with "the girls" (her managers), give lovely gifts to those who met business quotas. Back then Tupperware had the greatest reward system for doing our jobs. You qualified for gifts based on monthly & quarterly goals. Fran always added to that & broke it down into even smaller time periods to help with incentive. Therefore, her distributorship was one of the top distributorships in the country, had some of the country's top managers. And me.
One mistake I always made was to compare myself to the top managers & feel like a failure. Please people, don't do that to yourselves! Just be the best YOU can be!!! I didn't paint for 30 years because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to paint my vision, my style. What a waste! I'm not Renoir & never will be but I love painting now & people enjoy my art! Of course at first I didn't paint my vision & style. First I had to learn to paint & then begin to find my self. It's still a process, but you can't get there unless you start! It ended up taking me less than 2 years to begin to find my style! Please don't compare yourself to others. It just doesn't matter in the least how you stack up. It only matters that you do it, express yourself, do your work, work your calling, use your talents. The beauty of hand-made things is in the uniqueness, the imperfections. Otherwise, you might as well just have something a machine made! The same is true with each of us. We are all imperfect but have great beauty inside, differing talents & abilities. I can't fix electronics, have a limited understanding of computers - the list of things I'm not good at goes on. Some people excel at those things, for which I'm grateful. Then there are many things I can do to varying degrees that they can't. Those are my talents & gifts. Mine differ from everyone else's in degree & as a whole. So comparing myself to anyone else is just plain wrong. I don't need to be great at everything. I just need to continue to practice the things I'm called to do, have been given an inclination & talent for.
When I first got into Tupperware, I had no real self image, self confidence, sense of self. I had no friends, no close family. That time in Tupperware changed my life entirely, mostly due to Fran & one of her top managers. That manager is a valued friend to this day. She took me under her wing & taught me how to be successful. She cared, as did Fran. She & Fran believed in me & invested their time. I made friends & found myself.
Fran taught me one of the most valuable lessons ever. She did an exercise with her managers at a monthly meeting. She had each of us write down one word to describe each of the other managers, then fill a basket for each of us with them. Turns out every single one of them came up with the word "sweet" for me. I was shocked. Afterwards I requested some time with her. I wanted to know what to do with what I'd just learned, & how to be more successful in the business.
She taught me that every human trait is a double-edge sword. I remember her words to this day. Each of our traits is 2 sides of a coin, "good" & "bad." The difference is what we do with the trait. For example, the kid who always got in trouble in school for talking in class could go on to earn a great living as a public speaker. That day she taught me that "sweet" is something I could make the most of, with intent & awareness. She said I could use it to draw people to me, create an atmosphere where people wanted to have me do Tupperware parties for them & more people would also attend. I had new confidence & awareness after that, & went on to be tops in sales among some of the best some weeks.
Better yet, it was the beginning of truly knowing myself, seeing myself as others see me, as who I truly am. She cut through all those negative messages I'd been given. It totally changed how I feel about myself, see myself. She opened the first tiny door to my soul that day. It was the beginning of coming into my own, to a new life. After that I felt loved, felt like I belonged. I blossomed & soared. I conducted trainings, hired a team, earned awards. We lost Fran to cancer a few years later, shortly after the birth of my son. Everything in my life at that time moved me out of selling Tupperware. But I've never forgotten Fran, never ceased to be grateful, to love her & talk about her. And in my heart I'll always be a Tupperware Lady!
So, what is your defining characteristic(s)? What don't you like about yourself? How can you turn that around, into positive use? The rest of Fran's lesson was that you can change whatever displeases you about yourself simply by flipping that coin, a turning of the edge of that sword. It's a choice we all can make. Instead of making excuses for ourselves, we can take action & bring those traits into positive uses, change our intent.
Most of us have potential we aren't using yet. What's yours? Is it that you're balancing the coin on the edge, neither using a trait for positive or negative impact - simply ignoring it? Or is there some part of your self or your life that you need to put a more positive spin on? It's as simple as awareness & intent. That was the thrust of Fran's lesson. Two sides to the coin, two edges to the sword - the choice is up to you!
The Oprah in my life had the name of Fran Santi. She was my Tupperware distributor the one time I was entirely successful at the business, the only MLM type business I've done well with. This was the middle 80s, around the time Oprah started her 25 year show. (I tried selling Tupperware several times in later years with less success due to other things going on in my own life at the time.)
First, a little about Fran. She could have been Oprah's twin soul! Their tastes, actions, leading, even their mannerisms were so similar! Fran loved to shop, do things with "the girls" (her managers), give lovely gifts to those who met business quotas. Back then Tupperware had the greatest reward system for doing our jobs. You qualified for gifts based on monthly & quarterly goals. Fran always added to that & broke it down into even smaller time periods to help with incentive. Therefore, her distributorship was one of the top distributorships in the country, had some of the country's top managers. And me.
One mistake I always made was to compare myself to the top managers & feel like a failure. Please people, don't do that to yourselves! Just be the best YOU can be!!! I didn't paint for 30 years because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to paint my vision, my style. What a waste! I'm not Renoir & never will be but I love painting now & people enjoy my art! Of course at first I didn't paint my vision & style. First I had to learn to paint & then begin to find my self. It's still a process, but you can't get there unless you start! It ended up taking me less than 2 years to begin to find my style! Please don't compare yourself to others. It just doesn't matter in the least how you stack up. It only matters that you do it, express yourself, do your work, work your calling, use your talents. The beauty of hand-made things is in the uniqueness, the imperfections. Otherwise, you might as well just have something a machine made! The same is true with each of us. We are all imperfect but have great beauty inside, differing talents & abilities. I can't fix electronics, have a limited understanding of computers - the list of things I'm not good at goes on. Some people excel at those things, for which I'm grateful. Then there are many things I can do to varying degrees that they can't. Those are my talents & gifts. Mine differ from everyone else's in degree & as a whole. So comparing myself to anyone else is just plain wrong. I don't need to be great at everything. I just need to continue to practice the things I'm called to do, have been given an inclination & talent for.
When I first got into Tupperware, I had no real self image, self confidence, sense of self. I had no friends, no close family. That time in Tupperware changed my life entirely, mostly due to Fran & one of her top managers. That manager is a valued friend to this day. She took me under her wing & taught me how to be successful. She cared, as did Fran. She & Fran believed in me & invested their time. I made friends & found myself.
Fran taught me one of the most valuable lessons ever. She did an exercise with her managers at a monthly meeting. She had each of us write down one word to describe each of the other managers, then fill a basket for each of us with them. Turns out every single one of them came up with the word "sweet" for me. I was shocked. Afterwards I requested some time with her. I wanted to know what to do with what I'd just learned, & how to be more successful in the business.
She taught me that every human trait is a double-edge sword. I remember her words to this day. Each of our traits is 2 sides of a coin, "good" & "bad." The difference is what we do with the trait. For example, the kid who always got in trouble in school for talking in class could go on to earn a great living as a public speaker. That day she taught me that "sweet" is something I could make the most of, with intent & awareness. She said I could use it to draw people to me, create an atmosphere where people wanted to have me do Tupperware parties for them & more people would also attend. I had new confidence & awareness after that, & went on to be tops in sales among some of the best some weeks.
Better yet, it was the beginning of truly knowing myself, seeing myself as others see me, as who I truly am. She cut through all those negative messages I'd been given. It totally changed how I feel about myself, see myself. She opened the first tiny door to my soul that day. It was the beginning of coming into my own, to a new life. After that I felt loved, felt like I belonged. I blossomed & soared. I conducted trainings, hired a team, earned awards. We lost Fran to cancer a few years later, shortly after the birth of my son. Everything in my life at that time moved me out of selling Tupperware. But I've never forgotten Fran, never ceased to be grateful, to love her & talk about her. And in my heart I'll always be a Tupperware Lady!
So, what is your defining characteristic(s)? What don't you like about yourself? How can you turn that around, into positive use? The rest of Fran's lesson was that you can change whatever displeases you about yourself simply by flipping that coin, a turning of the edge of that sword. It's a choice we all can make. Instead of making excuses for ourselves, we can take action & bring those traits into positive uses, change our intent.
Most of us have potential we aren't using yet. What's yours? Is it that you're balancing the coin on the edge, neither using a trait for positive or negative impact - simply ignoring it? Or is there some part of your self or your life that you need to put a more positive spin on? It's as simple as awareness & intent. That was the thrust of Fran's lesson. Two sides to the coin, two edges to the sword - the choice is up to you!
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